Leonard Leo, the conservative activist with an estimated $1 billion at his disposal, is threatening to withhold money from the dozens of groups he supports unless they develop plans to “weaponize” their ideas.
Why it matters: Leo’s call for conservative groups to get more aggressive will send shockwaves through the right-wing ecosystem he helped create.
- Leo wants less conversation and more action — fewer seminars and more campaigns — as part of a plan to “crush liberal dominance at the choke points of influence and power in our society,” he told the groups in a letter obtained by Axios.
- The goal should be to direct “funding to operationalize or weaponize the conservative vision,” Leo wrote.
Zoom in: Leo, 59, is telling organizations backed by his 85 Fund that he’s undertaking a “comprehensive review” of his grant-making process.
- His letter doesn’t mention any specific groups by name, but they know who they are.
- Groups such as Teneo, Honest Elections Project, Consumers’s Research and Do No Harm are examples of organizations that have adopted the kind of aggressive tactics Leo encourages, according to a source close to the 85 Fund.